SAN JACINTO: Parents’ advice on funding priorities sought

San Jacinto Unified School District is asking parents to share their opinions on how to spend extra money coming its way.

There will be a pair of parent and community meetings this week: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, at San Jacinto Assembly of God, 300 W. First St., and 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, at St. Hyacinth Academy, 275 S. Victoria Ave.

A final parent and community meeting will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. March 25 at the district office, 2045 S. San Jacinto Ave., San Jacinto.

There will be a meeting for the districtâs English Learner Advisory Committee parents from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, at the district office.

Input also was sought from community leaders at a Monday, Feb. 24, gathering, according to district Superintendent Diane Perez, and students also are being consulted.

Under a new formula for school funding in California, school districts are required to complete a local control accountability plan explaining how money will be spent.

In 2013, the state replaced complex formulas for funding schools with a new formula, called the Local Control Funding Formula. Districts get a base amount of money for each student, and then the state gives extra money for each student who is in a subgroup, such as English learners, foster youths and students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The aim is to help eliminate the achievement gaps that exist for students in those groups.

Perez said about 83 percent of the districtâs approximately 9,300 students are in at least one of the categories for extra funding.

Participants at the meetings will be asked to weigh the importance of priority areas for spending, including academic achievement, teacher qualifications and college and career ready topics.

The districtâs local control accountability plan will be brought back to the district board of trustees for action this spring.

Join the conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful
conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments,
we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful,
threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent
or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law,
regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.